


Just the Right Thing

by okayhannah



Category: Forever (TV)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-19
Updated: 2014-12-19
Packaged: 2018-03-02 03:52:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2798552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/okayhannah/pseuds/okayhannah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seeing that Clark Walker's death is weighing Henry down, Jo makes an effort to comfort him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just the Right Thing

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic. It goes from zero to cheesy in .2 seconds- you have been warned.

[6:30 pm]

 

"Careful, it's hot." Jo warned, handing Henry a steaming mug of cocoa. 

 

He gladly accepted her offering of comfort. "Ah, wonderful. Thank you detective- you’re too good to me" Henry said, taking a sip.

 

Jo's eyes grew wide. "Henry- I just poured that, I  _just_  said its hot!" She looked at him blankly, wondering why he wasn't screaming in pain. 

 

Henry took another sip. "Luke-warm is a more accurate description, but it will do." he smirked, lowering the mug from his mouth. The cocoa was in fact piping, but Henry found teasing Jo funny.

 

Jo rolled her eyes, taking a seat in an armchair next to the sofa Henry was sitting on. She tucked one leg beneath her, and attempted to sip the hot cocoa. If Henry could sip, surely she could sip.

 

Jo flinched. "Damnit" She whispered, hoping he didn't see her burn her tongue. But the Doc’s savant-like observation skills never failed, right? Jo glanced up at Henry, who was staring back at her with a wild grin on his face. She had never seen him more amused. 

 

"Dont." Jo warned with a stern face, running her burnt tongue along the backs of her teeth.

 

Henry laughed. "I guess I've built up quite a tolerance to hot liquids over the years."

 

Jo gave him a look of annoyance. "Teach me your ways, oh great Henry..." she mocked, setting her mug down on a coaster. 

 

"As you wish, but it might take a couple centuries." Henry chuckled quietly. Oh how he loved a good inside joke, even the ones he only shared with himself. 

 

Jo shook her head. "Oh- trust me. I'm sure it would." 

 

Henry looked up at her, reminding himself just how much he was keeping from her. "Anyways, thank you for stopping by, it's always a pleasant surprise."

 

• • •

 

[8:00 pm- two rounds of cocoa later...]

 

Henry switched the way his legs crossed. "I have to ask, did you believe them- when they said I managed to kill a man?" He tried to sound lighthearted, but it was a question that had been on his mind the last few days whilst away from the morgue. He wished he'd been there for her initial reaction. In contradiction to his  _I'm a nerd and I'm proud_ attitude, the reality was that he cared about what others thought of him- Especially Jo.

 

"Honestly I didn't at first." she stated firmly. "I thought they had got the story wrong somehow. But on the drive over to the crime scene I guess it started to make sense.."

 

Jo paused for a moment, trying to think of something to say. "I mean your stalker attacked you in your own home for Gods sake, what else could you have done?" She began a long sip of cocoa.

 

Henry sat up a bit, furrowing his brow. "Well for starters, I could have-" He blurted, only to be cut off by a waving hand and loud muffled " _hmm-mm"_ from Jo. 

 

She lifted her face out of her mug and swallowed the giant sip of chocolaty goodness. "It was rhetorical, Henry." She looked at him with a mixture of annoyance and affection.

 

"Right. My apologies." Henry mumbled, leaning back in his seat. His eyes locked on to the floor.  

 

Yes, Henry knew that Clark Walker had been a terrible man, but he was not the person Henry intended to kill. Hell- Henry never  _intended_  to kill anyone, at least not permanently for that matter.

 

Henry sighed, resting his elbows on his knees and his fingers on his temples. "I just can't help thinking there could have been a way to protect Abraham and I without having to  _murder_  the man." He sighed, letting his eyelids droop.

 

Jo's expression turned to worry. Henry had built up these great walls all around him, and Jo could feel herself chipping away at them day by day. He was flattered by her quiet curiosity and slowly let her in, one conversation at a time. But Henry had never looked this emotionally fatigued. Jo couldn't bear to see him in this odd, deflated state.

 

After a moment of watching Henry blink slowly at the ground, she got up from her armchair and sat down on the coffee table directly in front of Him. Although Jo may have been a tad closer to him than intended, he didn't move or shift awkwardly in his seat like she expected him to. Gently taking both of Henry's hands and holding them in hers, Jo looked up at Henry's tired eyes.

 

She used a quiet tone, almost a whisper. "You gotta stop beating yourself up over all this. You did what you had to… What would have happened to Abe if you didn't stop Walker-” She let out a small sigh, remembering the pain she went through after her first kill. “I’ve been in your shoes. I know what you’re going through. And I sure as hell know it's hard to realize, but you didn't do anything wrong, Henry.”

 

She reassured him with a hand squeeze.

 

Henry's focus bounced desperately between Jo's eyes, and he looked down at his hands in hers, failing to hold back a tiny smile. It was obvious now, she truly cared about him. That realization alone warmed his heart.

_Maybe letting someone in isn’t so bad after all._

 

Jo looked down, then glanced at Henry’s perfect lips before looking up at his eyes again. “You're the hero here, I promise." She offered gently.

 

Ironically enough, the whole reason she stopped by after work was to get Henry's mind off his recent kill. But the conversation kept gradually drifting to the topic anyways. So Jo let it. If Henry needed to talk about what happened then so be it, she was more than happy to be his source of comfort. Sure, Abe was a good listener, but Jo had been in Henry's shoes once. She could relate to his post-traumatic thought process, and the pangs of guilt that come with having someone's blood on your hands. Sometimes all you needed was an ear. A cup of cocoa couldn't hurt either. 

 

"Thank you." Henry looked up at Jo with flushed cheeks. "Really, detective. It seems you always say just the right thing."

**Author's Note:**

> Eeeeeeh! I hope you guys liked it!  
> Please leave your thoughts in the comments or in my Tumblr ask box :)
> 
> I do not own any of these characters.


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